Girl Sight! Yay! And the Phases of BJJ

I've been working my way through BJJ Grrl's blog and thinking there are no women at my school. And then one shows up today. Hurrah. Didn't get to talk or roll with her though.

Tech 1: Open Guard Pass. Grab the gi near the knees, push down and around to Side.

Tech 2: Guard break. Stand up.

Tech 3: Kimura from Side.

Tech 4: Var. of that Kimura. He straightens arm, get under his elbow joint.

Roll 1: Izzy the Blue. Getting to his Half Guard pretty easily, but also he's sweeping me half the time. Need to work on my weight. He swept and he got to Side Control and cranking the neck and was thinking if he moved just a little to the right, I would have to tap. So I rolled away the other direction, and he got a tighter choke. Tap tap. 48.

We went again and I got into half and time ran out.

Roll 2: Edgar the White. Just Guard and Passing the Guard, with me on bottom. Kind of had my way with him. Got sweeps that I've never pulled off before. Bump sweep. Scissor sweep. Guillotine choke. But, but. I still feel I was grabbing, using a little too much strength. I was grabbing for cross collar grip, holding and pulling too much. Overall, I think I've improved just a leettlle bit.

Roll 3: Chris the Purple. Crushified. Two brief shining moments: I got half guard and he swept. He turtled on purpose to let me work and tried to talk me into basics -- getting the back, hooks in and flattening (that's his MO) -- but I wanted to try the roll we learned last class. And it worked, although I didn't end up in Side as I was supposed to.

From there, all down hill. He got mount and S Mount and got the wrap my own arm around my neck control and then to arm bar. Arm bar. Arm bar. Then choke from back. Also, flattening me from back. Lots of Knee on Belly. Knee on chest. Knee on ribs, pressing down. I think I might have tapped to one of those. Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap. Total: 56.

Need to review: Side escapes (again) - especially the Harpoon sweep. Getting my hand caught and they mount and control it.

Knee on Belly escapes - can't get any to work.

Izzy the Blue did show me an arm bar defense - holding my gi and holding my trapped arm at the elbow and coming up with him when he goes down.

Here are my Phases of BJJ:

1. The Acquisition of Technique Phase -- buying Dvds, books, watching YouTube, reading blogs -- all in search of the magic bullet that will crush other Blues and Purples.
2. The Acquisition of Principles/Fundamentals -- Back to basics. Searching for the why the techniques work. And all of the details.
3. Coveting of the Belts Phase -- You can taste the Blue, see the Purple, then the Brown is not that far off.
4. Calling BJJ "Jits" Phase.
5. Giving of the Advice Phase - as a White, I should be keeping my mouth shut (see below for duties of the White Belt).
6. Just Enjoy the Journey Phase.

In between all these phases, there will be quite a few Pity Parties. It's just so easy to think, "I suck! I really suck at BJJ."

Duties of the White Belt:

1. Listen. Ask questions, but otherwise, keep mouth shut. Do not teach. Do not give advice.
2. Tap. A lot. Get swept a lot. Try to use technique. Calm down. Chill.
3. Keep your gi clean, your finger, toe nails short.
4. Don't try foot locks, ankle locks.
5. Don't practice on friends and family. Because you're jonesing for BJJ until your next class and those are the only people your techniques will work on.